Explore the Era

Delve into the postwar Los Angeles art world in this online archive, which provides additional material related to the exhibitions on view at the Getty Center. Learn about hipsters and happenings, and the venues across the city where all the action took place through images from the archives and first-hand accounts with the artists.

Artforum Offices

Artforum, one of the most influential art magazines, was founded in San Francisco in 1962 in order to promote West Coast art. In 1965, its editors Philip Leider, Charles Cowles, and John Coplans moved the magazine’s operations to Los Angeles, where they rented office space at this location above the Ferus Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard. This initiated a fruitful symbiosis between the magazine and the gallery that would persist until the departure of Artforum for New York City in 1967.

Historic Map Locations